Patrick McGowan is the man who was eating pears on the pile of lumber, and said to have been on the fence.  He is employed by Mr. Crowe, and left the yard about 10 A.M.

Uriah Kirby, a foreman for a local company, saw a stranger asleep on the front porch of Charles N. Gifford's house on Third Street. Kirby was with Gifford at the time. Gifford was the next door neighbor of the Chagnon family. Kirby and Gifford woke the sleeping man and sent him on his way at about 11:00 P.M. on Wednesday, August 3, the night before the murders. The defense used this as proof there were strangers in the area who could have committed the crime . . . Some Borden historians believe that the sleeping man was not the murderer, but a local alcoholic known as 'Mike the Soldier' [Michael Graham].

. . . a weaver by trade . . . employed at Borden City Mill No.2. A heavy drinker, Graham was spotted near 92 Second Street at about 10:00 A.M. on the morning of the murders. He showed up drunk at the mill shortly after 10:00 A.M. and was not allowed to work . . . Graham seemed to fit the description of Dr. Benjamin Handy's 'wild-eyed man' and also of Charles N. Gifford and Uriah Kirby's description of the man asleep on the front steps of Kirby's house on Third Street the night before the murders. 

The chase was not a difficult one . . . He was Michael Graham, better known as 'Mike, the Soldier' . . . and for some days previous to Thursday he had been drinking freely . . . his physical condition, as a result of his excesses, was such as to render his countenance almost ghastly in color. The description of Graham corresponded in every particular with that given by Officer Hyde, who furnished more details as to the clothing of the man . . . His trousers were of a peculiar texture and hue, and were rendered extremely noticeable on this account . . . sufficient identification . . . the authorities arrived at once at the conclusion that the man was identical with the person described by Dr. Handy and the police officer . . . Yet there appeared many weeks afterward reasons known to the Marshal alone which caused him to start Officer Medley in search of 'Mike the Soldier' again . . . [See Man, Wild-eyed] [See Dr. Handy].

Saturday morning August 6.  A Alan Morse, employed by Covel & Osborn had to be located on that day, Thursday.  His whereabouts were satisfactory.

This theory was first reported in a Lynn, Massachusetts newspaper and appeared in the Boston Advertiser, August 14, 1892, but considered unfounded.  The mutineers [of the Schooner, Jefferson Borden, in which Andrew Borden had an interest] were in prison at the time of the murders.

m.  Brigham Mr.--told Phillips that one Follett, 25 Calender St. Prov. R.I. told him that Mr. Borden had nephews in Providence--one of them resembles Dr. Handy's description and is capable of committing such a crime, the other nephew was killed in a road house 2 or 3 years ago. [See Man, Wild-eyed].

. . . Charles B. Peckham . . . came to the city yesterday, and gave himself up, saying he killed A.J. Borden . . . lived on a farm in South Westport about 8 and 1/2 miles from this city . . . had been insane for years . . . considered perfectly harmless . . . [His wife said] that he was taken sick July 13^th last past, and had been confined to the house most of the time since.  On the 4^th of Aug., he was at home all day, and lay on the lounge most of the time.  Also that he had never been to the city on Thursday, except yesterday, since they lived on the farm.  He had read of the Borden murders in the New Bedford Standard, and ever since that, he kept saying he was going to Fall River to give himself up, as he was the man who killed them . . . I found him to be well known as a crank for several miles about there. 

He told Fleet that the clothes he wore to the police station were the clothes he had on when he killed the Bordens.  His attire showed no traces of blood.  Peckham explained that . . . by saying the Bordens' blood had 'stagnated' as a result of poison they had taken before being killed.  Peckham was searched and arrested while his story was checked out by Fleet. While being held in custody . . . he changed his story and said he really had nothing to do with the deaths . . . He was released the next day . . . He was sixty-two. . . Peckham's wife . . . sent a neighbor to retrieve him.

I have visited New Bedford, going to the hardware store of Hillman & Vincent.  Mr. Mark Vincent is the man who sold the ax of which I have before made mention, the purchase being made about two days before the murder.  I took Mr. Vincent to see the Portuguese working at the slaughter house on the Davis farm, and who is well acquainted with Mr. Morse.  But after a thorough look at the man, concluded he was not the man;  neither had he ever noticed him in the store at any time.  The Portuguese man has a distinctive look about him;  and anyone seeing him once, would know him again.  This Portuguese claims never to have been in New Bedford, except on Sunday, at any time within six months.

Officer Leonard and I had a  call to the N.B. Savings Bank.  There we found a Portuguese who was drawing out his full deposit of sixty odd dollars.  He could speak English but poorly, so we brought him to the station.  Officer Leonard went for an interpreter, and the suspect giving a satisfactory account of himself, he was allowed to go. [See Antonio Auriel]

On Sunday (two) 'outside clues' came up for consideration . . . The other clue was to the effect that a Portuguese had been seen burying a bloody hatchet on the Borden farm in Swansea.  Officer Medley visited the farm and searched in vain where the axe was alleged to have been buried.  He found a Portuguese laborer who had been on the farm all day Thursday and who had killed some chickens for market.

Samuel Robinsky wrote a letter to Emma Borden dated August 17, 1892. In somewhat broken English, Robinsky described himself as a Jewish peddler who had seen a man covered with blood on August 4, 1892, the day Andrew and Abby Borden were murdered. Robinsky said that the man was sitting on the side of the road near New Bedford and was of medium height, weighed about 135 pounds, had dark brown hair, reddish whiskers and wore a gray suit and a derby hat. Robinsky wrote that he believed this man might have been the murderer of the Bordens . . . mailed his information from Waltham, Massachusetts . . . Jennings attempted to locate Robinsky, but was unable to find him. It was possible that the letter was simply another of the many crank messages . . . received during the course of the investigation.

In obedience to orders . . . visited Needham, Chestnut Hill, Boston, and other places endeavoring to find or locate the man, Sam Robinsky . . . man Robinsky is absolutely unknown to the people of [those] places . . . The letters which were said to have been delivered to a man of that name at the Needham Post Office last spring, were not delivered last spring but a year ago last Spring . . . not seen or received anything for him since that time . . . went to all the wholesale dealers in peddlers supplies, who are Jews themselves.  They, not only do not know any one of the name, but are willing to make affidavit that they do not believe any such man lives in this state.  Capt. Cain of Station One put four men to work on the Jewish Section, who made house to house canvass, using up three days, and this canvas failed to reveal anybody by the name of Robinsky.  Everywhere in Police Circles the Robinsky letter was considered a *fake* pure and simple.

Joseph Silvia was a butcher who lived on a farm owned by John S. Brayton near Gardner's Neck . . . interviewed by . . . Medley at the suggestion of Peleg P. Brightman . . . neither Silvia nor any members of his family was near Fall River on the day of the murders . . .

Peleg Brightman reported to having seen an ax covered with blood in a house [on Fri., the 5^th], over the River on the Brayton farm.  Officer Medley and I took Mr. Brightman.  We found the ax which was owned by Joseph Silvia.  There was no blood on it at this time.  Silvia gave a full account of himself.  There were two children there . . . very much subject to the nose bleed, and as the ax is always at the back door yard, where there is a pile of wood, the blood from them might have stained the blade.  The axe was old, dull and much worn.  In our judgment  it could not produce the wounds, and if it were used for this purpose, it would not be carried so far away, over the River, and by ponds, one of which was close by the house, when either of those places would afford such a secure hiding place, [See Peleg Brightman].

Alfred A. Smith claimed that on the day the Bordens were murdered he picked up a bloody hatchet and a pair of bloody kid gloves on the Borden property . . . He made a formal statement . . . to one C. Hammond of Philadelphia. Also present . . . Massachusetts Reformatory Deputy Superintendent Charles Hart and Fall River City Marshal Rufus B. Hilliard.  Hammond described the interview with Smith in a letter to District Attorney Hosea M. Knowlton . . . Smith, sixteen . . . was serving jail time for breaking-and- entering and larceny. 

When at the foot of Williams Street I saw two suspicious characters, and brought them to the station.  Later when the Marshal had a talk with them, he ordered them locked up.

A 'possible solution is offered'— a stray tramp committed the murders.  Abby Borden surprised the tramp.  He killed her with an ax.  He heard Lizzie and hid in the closet.  When he thought it was safe to leave, he went downstairs only to find Andrew Borden.

Thos. Walker, a tailor employed by John Carey, lived in a tenement of Mrs. Borden's  on Fourth street.  He was ordered out, and R.S. Reed's store took his furniture.  He worked all day Thursday, so says Mr. Carey.  Walker said he had no feeling against Mr. Borden.  What trouble he had was caused by himself.  He said he went on a drunk, and could not pay his bills, so he had to vacate the tenement and return the furniture, which was purchased on the installment plan.

Mr. Edward Waring, the grandson of Lizzie's lawyer, Andrew J. Jennings, suggested Yankee Dan Sullivan may very well be the mysterious stranger encountered near the Borden house on the morning of the murders.  The stranger was described as wild-eyed and red-faced.  Also, a thirteen year old boy who had been in the neighborhood saw a 'tall, well-built man with a light soft hat, black suit and some kind of russet shoes.'  Mr. Waring discovered the name of Dan Sullivan in his grandfather's notebooks which contained newspaper clippings and interviews with witnesses.  An old man was beaten and robbed in Providence, Rhode Island., on July 20, 1892.  Yankee Dan Sullivan was found in New York trying to sell the man's watch.  While Dan was in prison in New York, Yankee Dan wrote to his brother Dennis Sullivan in Fall River.  Mr. Waring believed there was a connection to Bridget Sullivan, the Borden's maid. . . . Barbara Ashton, vice-president of the Fall River Historical Society, read the contents of the red leather-bound books kept by Andrew Jennings. She read Att. Jennings' testimony of twelve neighbors who described the mysterious stranger as, 'common looking, angry, reddest-looking face I ever saw, derby hat, eyes staring out of head, and very frightened.' [See A Man, Red-faced, Mrs. Conant]